Acts 17:10-15
Notes
Transcript
Kids:
Kids:
Q. 2. What rule has God given to direct us how to glorify and enjoy him?
The Word of God, which consists of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments,[a] is the only rule to direct us how to glorify and enjoy him.[b]
And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.
knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
God has given us definite instructions in writing. As God’s book, the Bible is the best book, and we should study it more often than any other. God promises his Holy Spirit to help us understand it. We must never presume to add to it. The original languages of the Bible are Hebrew (in the Old Testament) and Greek, but common English translations give us the meaning in a form that we can understand.
So we read all sorts of stuff right, Dog Man, Last Kids on Earth. We spend time with movies and television, or watching planes land on YouTube (at least Amos does). None of those things are bad, but God left us a book to study and use to learn about Him and we should give it the time and attention It deserves. Is the earth flat? Does the sun revolve around the Earth? Do bad smell spread disease? No, well these are all things people we positive were the truth at one time or another. My point is people as smart as they can be don’t know everything, I promise you things we think are the absolute truth today will be disproven tomorrow.
Background/Introduction:
Background/Introduction:
We saw last week Paul and company get run out of Thessalonica for “turning the world upside down”. And we discussed, with the world heading towards 3 billion Christians and 58% of the world reached with the gospel, how they did indeed turn the world upside down, and how we are commanded to continue to do this work. This week they have fled to Berea, and we will discuss the reception they receive there, along with another way in which Christianity turn the world around.
Faithlife Study Bible Chapter 17
Berea Located approximately 45 miles west of Thessalonica, about a three-day journey by foot. It was another major city in the Roman province of Macedonia.
Text:
Text:
English Standard Version Chapter 17
Paul and Silas in Berea
10 The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. 11 Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
Faithlife Study Bible Chapter 17
17:11 open-minded Originally, the Greek term used here denoted noble birth. It later came to refer to anyone who had royal bearing—people who were more refined.
Faithlife Study Bible Chapter 17
examining In nonjudicial contexts, the Greek term used here, anakrinō, often deals with questioning and discernment (compare 1 Cor 2:15; 10:25).
Paul told them it was so, and rather than running him out of town b/c his ideas were inconvenient, or ran contrary to popular opinion, they “examined the Scriptures to see if it was cso. In addition to what we discussed above this word also means: means to sift up and down, make careful and exact research
So they were not guilty of the other error either, receiving Paul’s teaching without critical thought and they are commended for their diligence.
The Church of Scotland has a tradition (as do many others) of each and every parishioner having their copy of God’s word open while the pastor expounds the text, a wonderful tradition, and wise. The Bible is not mystical the doctrine of the perspicuity of Scripture states: "...those things which are necessary to be known, believed, and observed, for salvation, are so clearly propounded and opened in some place of Scripture or other, that not only the learned, but the unlearned, in a due use of the ordinary means, may attain unto a sufficient understanding of them"
means to sift up and down, make careful and exact research
So it is wise to examine what we are being taught, question and seek deeper understanding and to be in the Bible ourselves.
In this day and age it is incredibly easy to access the Bible and it’s meaning and context. D.A. Carson has a daily podcast “Read the Word” where you follow a predefined reading plan and then in 3-5 minutes he (a word class biblical scholar) explains meaning and nuance we may have missed. But perhaps the easiest thing to do is to get a good study Bible. The ESV study Bible is great, NIV has a new one edited by Dr. Carson, and I use the Reformation Study Bible edited by R.C. Sproul.
Remember what we looked at with the kids “The Word of God, which consists of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments,[a] is the only rule to direct us how to glorify and enjoy him.[b]”
This is the timeless, immutable word of God that never changes. It can be relied upon. Absolute truth is what we are seeking here...
We cannot rely on our own conscience, you would feel tremendous guilt today for things you would not have given a second thought to in your twenties, and twenty years from now we will hate to think back on things we did or said things that do not prick our conscience now.
We cannot rely on societal norms. Dr. Tim Keller used this illustration in a sermon I was listening to this week, and I thought this was a good crowd for it. Dr. Keller points out that when he was at university in the 60’s and 70’s during the sexual revolution it was considered perfectly acceptable for professors to sleep with their students. Now that would be considered (rightly) a terrible abuse of power and have serious consequences (I hope). That’s just 50 years, a blink of an eye, no societal norms are not a foundation on which absolute truth can be established.
This is why it is so important for us each to read, and follow the teaching of scripture. Saying to God, your word was not in fashion, or progressive enough will not be an excuse we will want to give when called to account.
English Standard Version Chapter 17
12 Many of them therefore believed, with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men. 13 But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was proclaimed by Paul at Berea also, they came there too, agitating and stirring up the crowds. 14 Then the brothers immediately sent Paul off on his way to the sea, but Silas and Timothy remained there. 15 Those who conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens, and after receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they departed.
We keep seeing this refrain that goes something like the one above that says “not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men”
Last week it was “…and not a few of the leading women”
In fact women played a huge role in the early church.
The letters of Paul - dated to the middle of the first century CE - and his casual greetings to acquaintances offer fascinating and solid information about many Jewish and Gentile women who were prominent in the movement. His letters provide vivid clues about the kind of activities in which women engaged more generally. He greets Prisca, Junia, Julia, and Nereus' sister, who worked and traveled as missionaries in pairs with their husbands or brothers (, , ). He tells us that Prisca and her husband risked their lives to save his. He praises Junia as a prominent worker, who had been imprisoned for her labor. Mary and Persis are commended for their hard work (, ). Euodia and Syntyche are called his fellow-workers in the gospel (). Here is clear evidence of women active in the earliest work of spreading the Christian message.
Paul's letters also offer some important glimpses into the inner workings of ancient Christian churches. These groups did not own church buildings but met in homes, no doubt due in part to the fact that Christianity was not legal in the Roman world of its day and in part because of the enormous expense to such fledgling societies. It is not surprising then to see women taking leadership roles in house churches. Paul tells of women who were the leaders of such house churches (Apphia in ; Prisca in ). This practice is confirmed by other texts that also mention women who headed churches in their homes, such as Lydia of Thyatira () and Nympha of Laodicea (). Women held offices and played significant roles in group worship. Paul, for example, greets a deacon named Phoebe () and assumes that women are praying and prophesying during worship ().
So why were women so prominent...
The slayer foundation in their paper on the rise of the early church give us one of the reasons “Indeed, the Christian message of faith, charity, and equality before God likely appealed to the dispossessed in Roman society. The second-century pagan writer Celsus criticized Christianity for being a religion of women, slaves, and children. Women, in particular, were given status in the early church that they did not usually enjoy in ancient society, and in many regards they were treated as equals of men. Women could serve as deaconesses, and Christianity seems to have been particularly popular among women. ”
Now the Christian community, as we have it particularly in the letters of Paul, begins with a formula that is a baptismal formula, which says in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither male nor female, neither slave nor free. This is a sociological formula that defines a new community. Here is a community that invites you, which makes you an equal with all other members of that community. Which does not give you any disadvantages. On the contrary, it gives even the lowliest slave personal dignity and status. Moreover, the commandment of love is decisive. That is, the care for each other becomes very important. People are taken out of an isolation. If they are hungry, they know where to go. If they are sick, there is an elder who will lay on hands to them to heal them.
India/Philipi
Application:
Application:
It is vitally important that we have a faith that is our own, part of that is following the example of the Bereans and diligently, regularly studying the bible.
“The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly.” -Søren Kierkegaard
“The Holy Scriptures are our letters from home.” -Augustine of Hippo
Take our second focus tonight, the role of women in the early church, indeed the dignity and care with which Jesus commands us to treat all women. Popular culture is going to leave you with the idea that the Christian faith is a backwards, oppressive, threat to women.
Yet a study of our Bible challenges those assumptions, leads to questions and study, and ultimately through study, and prayer you reach your own conclusion.
Back to our danish friend Mr. Kierkegaard’s statement paired with the doctrine of perspicuity, we looked at earlier. The clear teaching is there, will we stumble over a passage or an idea, sure but we have been given teachers and scholars to help us with those times, but taken in it’s entirety the Bible is a library of 66 books that lead us to Jesus and instruct us as to how to follow Him. What we can’t do is two things; 1) Isogete the text, go to it trying to build a case for our point of view. This is also called proof texting when you grab a small piece of scripture such as , so many people who have never cracked a Bible know this one by heart I even know it in the KJV because that’s the only translation I had ever heard of and I needed to be able to tell the Christians at my baptist university to buzz off “Judge not, that ye be not judged.” (rob bank, drugs, speeding). No we must exegete the scriptures drawing the truth from them, not seeking to add to them. The second thing we can’t do is to be ignorant of the truth of Christianity…cable news will find the most ignorant politically minded, self serving hack available to speak for all Christians, and unless or faith is our own and we understand it we will be susceptible to believing what they are saying is what the Bible teaches.
Genesis/Billboard/Love God, Love Others, Love Life/To live is Christ, to Die is Gain